A few years ago I was in the UK and I was touring with my band, one evening, after Nottingham show, a guy came up to me and told me how much he likes my guitar working. I asked him if he plays or played in a band...Yes, of course.... He told me the name of his band, I said : I'm sorry...I never heard of it
He stared at me and said : You'd better know us, we wrote "I Love Rock 'n' Roll !

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Great list! Every time I find out someone had actually covered the song they're making a hit out of, I am floored. And the first time I remember hearing Roy Orbison singing "Pretty Woman", I thought HE was covering Van Halen!!

All of Three Dog Night's hits were covers. They had hits written by Hoyt Thaxton (Joy to the World) , Laura Nyro (Eli's Coming) , Randy Newman (Mama Told Me Not To Come) , Harry Nilsson (One) , Paul Wiiliams (Old Fashioned Love Song), They also covered songs by The Band, Allen Toussaint, Stevie Wonder, and many others. They did very little original material.